John Edwards (English Labour politician)

Lewis John Edwards, OBE (27 May 1904 – 23 November 1959) was a British university lecturer, trade union leader and Labour Party politician.

Edwards was born in Aylesbury, the son of a railwayman, and educated at the Aylesbury Grammar School. After working for a bank, he studied for the priesthood at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, but decided his vocation lay outside the church. He then completed a degree in Economics at Leeds University.

He became a staff tutor at the University of Leeds and lectured in economics for the Workers Educational Association. He was elected to Leeds City Council, and after working in a university appointment in Birmingham, he became secretary for adult education at Liverpool University.

While at Liverpool, he was elected general secretary of the Post Office Engineering Union. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Blackburn in the United Kingdom general election of 1945. He became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Stafford Cripps at the Board of Trade, and then in 1947 he was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health. He carried through Parliament the National Assistance Act 1948, which abolished the remaining parts of the Poor Law, an achievement of which he was particularly proud.